


Overheard

by Eggums



Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:15:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24530650
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eggums/pseuds/Eggums
Summary: An accidental call overheard. Important information learned. Never let it be said that Rafael Barba isn't efficient.
Relationships: Rafael Barba/Dominick "Sonny" Carisi Jr.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 102





	Overheard

_ Thnx 4 warrant Barba. Headed 2 his place rn expect 2 arraign soon _   
  
Rafael Barba wrinkled his nose at the half-chewed text courtesy of Detective Carisi.  
_ Text like an adult, Carisi, would you please?  
  
_ _ No time got 2 go fast _   
Followed by a laugh-crying emoji. 

Barba grimaced at his phone, mumbling to no one, “This offends me deeply.”  
He set his phone down, shaking his head and returned to the work he’d been doing before Carisi’s texts distracted him.  His phone rang and Barba sighed deeply, tossing his pen down to pick it up.

**Det Amanda Rollins**

“Seriously?” Barba tapped the answer button on the screen, “What is it now, Rollins? Do you and Carisi need me to read you directions to his apartment?”

“-to drive?”  
“Yeah, I’m fine. Now you’re free to stare at your phone and imagine texting Barba some more.”

Barba glanced at the screen of his phone then held it to his ear again. 

“-even gonna reply to that.”  
“You don’t have to, Son, I can see you blushin’.” 

It was Carisi and Rollins voices, no doubt about that. Their voices were a bit muffled but clear enough to understand.   
“I’m not blushing.” Carisi was saying, “I’m holding my breath to keep from screaming every time you nearly side-swipe someone or go careening on a turn, Amanda, god, is this how everyone drives in Georgia?”  
“You drive like my grandma, Sonny, shut up. Stop trying to change the subject.” Rollins laughed, “You got a crush on Bar-ba!” She said in a sing-song voice.

“A crush,” Sonny snorted, “What are we, 12? Shouldn’t you be offering to pass a note to him for me?”  
“I would in a heartbeat if I ever thought you had the balls to tell him.”  
“Excuse me, please stop ruminating on the existence of my balls, Amanda.”  
They both cackled.

_ Good god, they’re like teenagers _ , Barba thought. But this chat was extremely enlightening. 

“So, whaddya got to lose, Son?”  
“Uhm… all my dignity when Barba laughs in my face after I ask him out?”  
“I’m sure he wouldn’t  _ laugh _ .” Rollins paused, “Okay, he might laugh. What do you need dignity for anyway?”   
“What an ego-boost. You should be a motivational speaker.”

_ I wouldn’t laugh. _ Barba considers this information. Carisi never denied being attracted to Barba. He joked about it. He even thought about it enough to assume he knew how Barba would react.   
That wasn’t a surprise, Barba did tend to treat Carisi like an overeager puppy he hadn’t wanted. 

“You have no idea if Barba would really reject you.”   
Carisi snorted, “Is it possible that he’d accept? Sure, like it’s possible that I’ll win the lottery even though I never play.”  
“Aw, c’mon, Son, you’re makin’ me cry.”   
“Oh, poor you. Can we please talk about anything aside from my dating life?”  
“Non existent dating life.”   
“That’s rich, comin’ from you. Why don’t we talk about  _ your  _ dating life, or lack thereof?”

The two squabbled like siblings until Barba hung up his end of the call.

_ Very enlightening _ . Carisi was attracted to him. Barba picked up his pen again to restart work, yet again, but found he was thoroughly distracted. 

Dominick Carisi was every bit of Barba’s type. Tall, fair, handsome, intelligent and educated. He was a dab hand at cooking and looked gorgeous in a three-piece. He had gorgeous blue eyes and a sexy silver-fox thing starting to happen, dusting his blond hair with silver and grey hair at his temples. 

No, Barba knew, he wouldn’t laugh if Carisi asked him out.  
He would have been shocked. In truth, Barba was surprised to learn that Carisi harbored some attraction to him. He knew the man was eager to work with him again after Carisi had shadowed him not too long ago but he’d assumed there was nothing there beyond admiration for a co-worker and skilled attorney and enthusiasm to learn from Barba’s wealth of knowledge and experience.

Aside from that, Carisi was also cartoonishly Catholic. Prayed with a rosary and attended Mass every Sunday with his parents Catholic.  That didn’t exactly scream potentially gay or bi and romantically available to Barba.  
Barba never bothered to ask. He knew he was attracted to the detective who was probably a decade younger than himself. But everything he knew about Carisi never added up to him being a viable option to date. Barba didn’t even bother fantasizing about the man, after all, what good would it do to fantasize about a co-worker who was completely off-limits? 

Carisi was attracted to Barba. Apparently it was obvious to people he was comfortable with. Did anyone else know? Tutuola?  _ Liv _ ?  Barba didn’t want to try sniffing around for information. Tutuola and Liv wouldn’t care about Carisi’s orientation but it was also none of their business and definitely not Barba’s place to potentially expose him if Carisi hadn’t already come out himself.  No, it would be best to confront Carisi and go straight to the source if he had questions. 

Barba shook his head. As fun and interesting it was to contemplate this new wealth of information, he really did have a lot of work to get back to.  Barba huffed and went back to work. 

A few hours later, he received another text message.

_ Got the guy _ , no punctuation. A police officer emoji followed by a smiling emoji with hands.

As Barba began typing a reply, another text came through.

_ Tried 2 run but rollins tripped him, 2 funny. _

Barba huffed out a small laugh, not that he'd ever admit that to anyone. He erased the first text and typed out a new one.   
_ Glad to see my tax dollars are going to such professionals. Well done, Detectives. _

Not 10 seconds later Carisi responded with more laugh-crying emojis. 

Barba rolled his eyes but found himself smiling at his phone.   
_ Will this gentleman require both you and Rollins to bring him in or are you available?  _

_ Nah, unis took him in. rollins headed home. What up, barba? U need sthg? _

_ Yes, for you to text like an adult and whenever you’re free for the evening, swing by my office. I have a question for you.  _

_ K _

Barba slipped his phone into his coat pocket. Easy enough, it seemed. When Carisi arrived, he’d ask him out to dinner.    
His phone chirped.

_ N e reason y u cant just ask me rn?  _

_ Yes, I have my reasons. See you when you arrive, Detective.  _

_ Kk almost there c u soon _

Barba sighed. Perhaps Carisi’s texting was something he was just going to have to deal with if he wanted to date the man. 

He put away his necessary files and papers, gathered what he needed to look over tonight into his case and ducked his head out his door to tell Carmen to head out.    
Carmen’s eyes widened comically, “It’s only 6:07, Mr. Barba.”   
“I’m aware. I’ve decided to clock out early tonight.” 

“Wow.”   
“Excuse me.” Barba laughed, “We’ve left early before.”    
“No, I know. Usually you tell me a week in advance when you require leaving early.”

“Ah… well, that’s true. I suppose, today I discovered some interesting information and decided I’d like to follow up on it as soon as possible.”   
Carmen cocked an eyebrow at him as Sonny Carisi appeared in the doorway, “Knock knock. Here I am.” 

Carmen glanced from her boss to the lanky detective and back again, “I see.” She said with a barely contained smile, “Then I’ll be on my way. Have a good evening, gentlemen.”   
Carisi smiled politely, “Hello and Goodnight.”    
“Goodnight, Carmen. See you tomorrow.”   
“No denials, Mr. Barba?” Carmen asked before she could contain herself. She put her hand over her lips, “Excuse me.” 

“No denials.” Barba couldn’t help but chuckle, “Have a wonderful evening, Carmen.”   
“Oh, I’m sure some of us will.”

Carisi glanced back and forth at the conversation with a bemused expression. He stepped back to hold the door open for Carmen to leave and then turned to Barba, “What’s up with you two? I get the feeling I’m missing the joke.”  
“Not at all. Would you like to go to dinner?”   
“Eh, I grabbed a hotdog from the cart outside a minute ago.”

Barba huffed a chuckle, “So you’re not going to make this easy on me, hm?”  
“Huh?”   
“I’m asking you out to dinner on a date, Sonny. Is that clearer?”

Carisi gaped at him, his eyes rounded, “Wh- you’re asking-  _ me _ to- to dinner?  _ On a date? _ ”  
“Yes, very good, Detective, you’ve solved the mystery. How does Italian feel?”  
“Yeah! Good! I mean- yes, Italian feels good! No, wait, I mean-” 

Barba barked a laugh as he grabbed his case and ushered Carisi out the door, “I’m sure Italian feels very good but I suppose we’ll see, won’t we?” 

**Author's Note:**

> I was looking at my documents and found this which I had mostly written but hadn't finished. Well, here we go. Hopefully, I was able to maintain consistency despite there being months between writing hah.


End file.
